Tehran Sinking Into the Earth: Divine Retribution?

“They went down alive into Sheol, with all that belonged to them; the earth
closed over them and they vanished from the midst of the congregation.” Numbers
16:33 (The Israel Bible™)

Scientists warned that Iran,
the arch enemy of Israel, is in danger of suffering a fate explicitly described
in the Bible as being reserved for the evil: being swallowed up by the earth.
Though it is impossible to ascribe divine intentions onto such events, some
rabbis emphasized that such a phenomenon requires an attempt to understand
God’s will.

Satellite images recently revealed that Tehran, the capital of Iran, is
sinking into the earth at a rate of 10 inches per year. Geoscientists Mahdi
Motagh and Mahmud Haghshenas Haghighi from the GFZ German Research Centre for
Geosciences in Potsdam used satellite data to monitor subsidence across the
Tehran region between 2003 and 2017. Their study, reported in Nature
magazine, determined that roughly 10% of the city is affected, as well as areas
adjacent to the city. Part of the cause is the drying up of aquifers for
agriculture and drinking water for the city’s 13 million residents.

Nature reported that fissures several miles in length and several
yards deep have opened up in the land to the southeast of Tehran. Such fissures
endanger railroad tracks, roads, bridges, oil and gas pipelines, high-voltage
electricity lines and buildings. It also disturbs irrigation, sometimes making
agriculture impossible in previously arable regions. Another sinking zone is
threatening to engulf Tehran’s airport.

Though this phenomenon referred to as ‘subsidence’ is a problem in many
parts of the world, Tehran is among the worst cases. Efforts to restore the
aquifers have been hampered by illegal wells, droughts and large dams which
prevent the underground water sources from being replenished. Researchers fear
that the effects are irreversible and the ground has lost its porosity.

“Everything that happens in the world is divine intervention,” Rabbi Winston
told Breaking Israel News. “But we absolutely cannot ascribe a specific
meaning to it. One day it could be Tehran sinking and the next it could be a
city in California. The judgments are for God to make.”

Without usurping God’s role as judge, Rabbi Winston believes that the hand
of God can frequently be revealed by a close inspection of history.

“We don’t always know why things happen but when we look back we can
frequently see that some events we thought were insignificant were actually
small sparks that set off a large explosion,” he said. ‘What is true is that
anti-Semitism is always followed by economic depression and frequently by
disaster.”

He noted that even without taking into account God’s wrath for Iran’s
treatment of Israel, their difficulty could trace to their relations with the
Holy Land.

“Iran had a problem with water. In June, Prime Minister Netanyahu offered
Israeli water technology to Iran,” Rabbi Winston said. “But they wouldn’t take
anything from ‘the Zionists.’ This anti-Semitism clearly made their current
problem worse.”

“The Iranian people are victims of a cruel and tyrannical regime that denies
them vital water. Israel stands with the people of Iran,” the Israeli Prime
Minister said at the time.

This sentiment of helping the people of Iran, despite the intent of the
regime to destroy Israel, was also addressed by Rabbi Nir
Ben Artzi, an Israeli mystic with thousands of followers. In his weekly sermon last
week, Rabbi Ben Artzi emphasized that God operates in the world via nature.

“God is hidden in the world but operates through the natural forces that he
created,” Rabbi Ben Artzi said. “Through fire, earthquakes, winds, volcanoes –
through every natural force. This is how God operates for countries, but for
the individual, he works through his body.”

This was particularly true of Iran, the rabbi said.

“Every time Iran rises up against Israel, it will get hit by Hashem (God,
literally ‘the name’),” Rabbi Ben Artzi said. “Hit hard,” he emphasized.

“Ninety percent of the people love the Jews and Israel,” Rabbi Ben Artzi
said. “They hate the regime that is currently in power in Iran. They want to
overturn their government and this will happen. There will be a revolution in
Iran.”

Rabbi Yosef
Berger, the rabbi of King David’s Tomb on Mount Zion, believes Iran’s
current difficulties are a clear message their government should heed.

“It makes me happy to hear that Iran is having this problem,” Rabbi Berger
told Breaking Israel News. “Not that I, God forbid, wish the people of
Iran harm. There are enough reasons for them to disappear into the ground but
the way this is coming into the world, as a gradual process, gives the people a
chance to do tshuva (repentance) in order to avert disaster.”

He noted that this was the case with the Biblical story of Korach in the
desert, who spoke out against Moses and Aaron.

And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households,
all Korach‘s people and all their possessions. Numbers
16:32

“Since the Holocaust, there has not been any nation that has declared their
intention to destroy the Jewish people like Iran has,” Rabbi Berger said.
“Anyone who speaks out this way, wanting to wipe out another nation, Hashem
will cause the earth to swallow them up. Everything they think that makes them
great as a nation will simply disappear.”

Share this:

Like this:

Welcome

Revelation 1:3 "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near".
Tommy Settipani,
Watchman for Christ